1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to slats for removing undesirable pieces with an apparatus, and more particularly, to a slat arrangement wherein two adjacent slats define pockets for removing small or undesirable pieces with a small piece remover.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Often among a plurality of products, there are undesirable products. This can be true of manufactured items as well as agricultural items. For example, with vegetables such as, for example, baby carrots, pea pods, and carrot pieces, size is an important factor for determining desirability. In particular applications, certain sized carrot pieces, baby carrots or pea pods are unacceptable. Thus, smaller carrots and pea pods are removed.
A current machine for removing small pieces is a Small Piece Remover™ that is manufactured and marketed by Farmco, Inc., based in Redmond, Oreg. This device works with a plurality of adjacent slats, wherein each slat has a plurality of pockets defined therein. The slats are arranged in a side-by-side relationship along a looping conveyor. The device is set up at an angle such that a first side is higher than a second side. This angle is substantially perpendicular to the direction of travel for the plurality of slats.
In use, products, such as baby carrots, are placed on the slats. The looping slats are arranged such that they define a trough along the angled direction. The slats move and smaller baby carrots fall into the pockets while the larger, more desirable, baby carrots move through the defined trough until they fall off the device while the smaller carrots are carried by the pockets up and out of the defined trough and fall out of the pockets as the slats loop around. Thus, the smaller, more undesirable baby carrots are separated from the more desirable baby carrots.
Unfortunately, this slat design does not work well, especially with larger diameter baby carrots. Accordingly, an improved slat design and arrangement is needed.